US stocks advance on monetary policy speculation

US stocks have advanced this afternoon (June 14th) on speculation the Federal Reserve (Fed) will ease its monetary policy to encourage growth.

It is thought the Washington-based Fed will discuss stimulus efforts at its meeting next week, after reports showed jobless claims climbed unexpectedly by 6,000 to 386,000 and the cost of living fell by the most in more than three years, Bloomberg reports.

However, the ongoing financial problems in the eurozone inevitably weight down on Wall Street, with Spain's ten-year bond yields reaching seven per cent adding to fears that the single currency region is beyond help.

Indeed, some analysts believe this level of debt is now unsustainable, fuelling concerns of eurozone contagion.

At 16:45 BST, the Dow Jones was up by 0.9 per cent - or 117.3 points - to an index value of 12613.6 points, while the Nasdaq rose by 0.7 per cent to a 2838.3-point index value.